"Push Back" Strategy To Tackle Bangladeshi Infiltrators Working: Himanta Sarma

India has adopted a new "push back" strategy to tackle infiltration from Bangladesh, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma told reporters on Saturday.

Addressing a press conference, Ms Sarma said the Centre has deported illegal immigrants, including Rohingyas, from different parts of the country, including the Matia detention centre in Goalpara, which is one of the largest facilities in the country for holding illegal immigrants.

"We have pushed them back. Everybody from the detention centre has gone back to Bangladesh except those who are there in Matia, where litigation is there," he said, adding he doesn't have the exact number of illegal immigrants who have been deported.

हमारी सरकार ने यह निर्णय लिया है कि घुसपैठियों को पकड़कर उन्हें 'पुश बैक' किया जाएगा। हम उन्हें भारत की कानून-व्यवस्था का दुरुपयोग नहीं करने देंगे।#PressConference pic.twitter.com/RVrNlzWZh9

— Himanta Biswa Sarma (@himantabiswa) May 10, 2025

There are only 30-40 people left in the Matia detention centre, he said.

At the beginning of 2025, there were 270 inmates at Matia, of whom 133 were declared "foreigners" by Assam's Foreigners Tribunals.

Calling cross-border infiltration a "big issue", Mr Sarma said it will be minimised because of the new "push back" phenomenon.

"Earlier, we used to arrest 1,000-1,500 foreigners. We used to arrest them, and they would be sent to jails, and then they would be produced before a court of law. Now, we have decided that we will not bring them into our country, and will push them back," he said.

He also said the India-Bangladesh border in Assam was being actively monitored, and that there has been no unnatural activity in the last 10 days.

"The central government, however, will be in a better position to explain this as they have a different mechanism to ascertain this," Mr Sarma said.